Crossing Paths
by xXISwearToBlackBalloonsXx
Summary: He's the reason why she's still walking the earth. She's just as jaded and broken as he is. This is the first time they've seen each other in nearly a hundred years.
1. Chapter 1

"It's nice to see you again Bella, how are you?"

I glance up at him out of the corner of my eye from my spot on the desert floor after he finally speaks. We're both facing the direction of the rising sun so I can only see him from the side.

He looks the same, curly honey blond hair, golden eyes a shade darker then the rest of the Cullen's, and all of his scars. His clothes are a bit different but you can still tell they're preppy influenced. They don't really match his southern twang that's more pronounced then I've ever heard it before and I wonder fleetingly how long he's been in the South for it to be so strong.

"Yeah, must be fate for us to come across eachother here in the middle of nowhere, Jasper. And how bout you tell me how I've been and I'll just fill you in on anything you've missed?" I guess he has time to spare since he's wasting my time with stupid questions. He knows exactly how I've been.

"I thought it might be better if you told me yourself. After all It _has_ been awhile since we've seen eachother. Didn't mean to step on your toes darlin', my apologies." He turned his head to look at me and I do the courteous thing and do the same. The corners of his lips are lifted slightly in his version of a smile that I notice still looks the same too. It's soft, wise, and bitterly amused at everything around him. I'm the only thing to be amused at though, and I'm sure I know why.

And I can't control the small smirk that's half bitter and half mocking that finds itself on my face. I'm not the only one who's just a little to jaded and a tad bit to broken to be able to completely immerse themselves into a life of pretend and happiness. And I wonder briefly if one day I'll wear the same smile he does, and how many centuries it takes to get it.

"You look well by the way." I snort at that comment and look into his eyes focusing on my reflection in them. My eyes are a bright ruby red from my hunt a couple of hours ago and I notice a spot of blood on the corner of my lips that I immediately lick off. I look like what I am I suppose, a nomad. Black tank, brown leather jacket, ripped and faded jeans from all my travels and black boots. Nothing personal and completely practical, just the way I like it.

"Well I certainly look better then you do." He's the one who snorts this time but he doesn't try to deny it either. He knows he looks like crap in those clothes. He wears them anyway though so kudos to him.

It's silent between us for a moment, and I pretend that it's stuck still in time. But I guess he's got somewhere else to be because it doesn't last long before he asks me what he really wants to know. "Why did you leave them?"

Ah, Peter and Charlotte.

They saved me all those years ago when Laurent found me walking through the forest after the Cullen's had skipped town. Victoria had sent him out to fetch me for her, but he had other plans. He was going to drain me dry and almost did too, when Peter and Charlotte popped out of nowhere to come to my rescue. Well if you consider making me a vampire being rescued that is.

It wasn't 'til about twenty-five years after I had been turned that I found out that Jasper was their sire, and that he had called them and asked if they would watch over me when he and the others left. After all, I was a defenseless human in a supernatural world with a sadistic redhead that wanted my head on a platter.

I never figured out how long they were supposed to watch over me, or what Jasper's plan for me was. For all I know things happened just the way he wanted them to. But I never bothered asking Peter and Charlotte and they didn't bother telling me. They may not have known anyway.

"I left them for the same reason you did. The same reason why you're here right now with me in the middle of a desert and not back home playing house with the wifey and everyone else. It infuriates you when they try to _heal _you, to _help_ you. Hell, even your mate can't fix you up and make you better."

I'm standing up now right in front of him. I'm leaning forward slightly with my face angled towards his, and I see through my reflection in his eyes that the smile on my face makes me look as cruel as the words that just passed trough my lips. And that makes me smile all the more.

And he bursts out laughing, not his usual soft chuckle from years past but full on laughing. He stops and stares at me for a second with a wicked grin on his face before he turns to leave. I don't wait to watch him as I turn in the opposite direction to do the same. He speeds off right before I do and I catch his parting words at the last second.

" I can't wait to see you again, Bella."

And I'm sure I will see him again. I don't know when that'll be, and I'm not going to ponder on it. It'll be whenever he wants to find me. And I plan on making that as hard as possible. Peter and Charlotte were great teachers after all.


	2. Chapter 2

I've been searching for her close to two months now, and here I am in the middle of a desert with her five feet away from me looking at the rising sun.

I left to find her as soon as I got the call from Peter telling me that she had upped and vanished when she had went out to hunt one night. I needed to get away for awhile and it couldn't have been timed better. Obviously Peter and Charlotte trained her like I told them to since it's taken so long for me to track her down. She's good, maybe even on par with Peter, but I'm better.

"It's nice to see you again Bella, how are you?"

I can feel her eyes rake over me from her spot on the desert floor after I speak. And I wonder fleetingly how she thinks I look but I don't really care either. I already know though, that she knows I know everything, but I can't help but say it anyway. I saved her life, and I don't have to play nice with her. No, not her.

"Yeah, must be fate for us to come across each other here in the middle of nowhere, Jasper. And how bout you tell me how I've been and I'll just fill you in on anything you've missed?"

Ah, seems like she really has grown a backbone. Especially to talk like that to me knowing my past. I definitely think I like this Bella more then the human one. I'm gonna have more fun then I thought.

"I thought it might be better if you told me yourself. After all It _has_ been awhile since we've seen each other. Didn't mean to step on your toes darlin', my apologies."

I turn my head to really look at her for the first time and she does the same. I can't help but smile at what I see. She's really embraced the whole classic nomad look. Leather jacket, black tank, old jeans and boots. Her looks are the same, the only differences are a few scars peeking out here and there, probably from some nomad she came across and bright ruby red eyes that you can only have from recently feeding from humans.

The Cullen's really did a number on her, I can tell when she throws a mocking, bitter smirk my way, and it reminds me of me way back when. Jaded and broken we will always be. I think that it looks _cute _on her.

"You look well by the way." She snorts very unlady like, and stares at me right in the eyes. She must see her reflection in them because she Immediately licks off a speck of blood that she had missed on the corner of her lips. She doesn't miss a beat though before she reply's to my apparently amusing comment.

"Well I certainly look better then you do." I'm the who one snorts this time because it's true and I don't deny it either. I didn't bother changing before I left like I usually do, so I'm still in the outfit Alice picked out for me. They're uglier then the piles of dead bodies Maria use to keep laying around for 'decoration'. But it's the least I can do for Alice, she deserves at least one thing she wants.

I don't speak for a moment lost in my thoughts and she doesn't either. But I don't feel like beating around the bush any longer. "Why did you leave them?"

I don't push her to answer me and leave her to get her thoughts together. Honestly I'm surprised she stayed with Peter and Charlotte this long and didn't just bolt when she first found out that I was their sire and I had them watch her after the Cullen's and I had left Forks. I admit I was going to have her turned just not when she was. I hadn't hashed out all of the details yet, but Victoria did something useful and sent Laurent which went in my favor. Of course Peter and Charlotte could have just let her die which would have been fine as well, but I guess they felt sorry for her.

"I left them for the same reason you did. The same reason why you're here right now with me in the middle of a desert and not back home playing house with the wifey and everyone else. It infuriates you when they try to _heal _you, to _help_ you. Hell, even your mate can't fix you up and make you better."

She's standing right in front of me now, leaning toward me slightly with her face angled up at mine. She has a cruel smile plastered on her face to match with her cruel, though true, words that quickly gets bigger. Completely fearless of me. And I can't help the laughter that bubbles up my throat from escaping. It's been so long since I've laughed like this! When I finally stop I take a moment to look at her with a grin on my face before I turn to leave.

I hear her move to leave in the opposite direction of me. I make sure to leave before she does, but not before leaving her with some parting words.

" I can't wait to see you again, Bella."

I can't wait to see her either. I might not be able to wait as long as I usually do after coming back from leaving. I hope she tries to hide from me.


End file.
